By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Starting a five-game road trip with a loss to Luka Doncic and the Los Angeles Lakers at crypto.com Arena on Monday, Giannis Antetokounmpo called for more individual pride and accountability across the Miami Heat.
“Not playing hard enough. We got to play hard,” he was blunt about his squad’s lack of effort and defensive chemistry to start his postgame media session. “We got to have some pride, individual pride, first of all. And then we got to keep one another accountable, but trust one another defensively. Right now, we don’t trust one another.”
The Greek superstar noted that while the team showed glimpses of this identity early on, consistency remains an issue. “We’re not giving that extra effort. We did it for two games, but we keep on having bad habits creep up in games that we don’t really want. We go one direction, then all of a sudden, we go back the other direction,” he said.
The defeat highlighted the brilliance of Doncic, whom the former champion with the Milwaukee Bucks placed among the finest offensive talents. “When you have a guy like Luka, obviously, he’s one of the best scorers to ever play this game, if not the best,” he mentioned. “I feel like some people are scared to say that, but he’s got to be up there. He’s also an elite passer.”
“I try not to follow the race and stuff like that and try to focus on what I can do and my team, and how can we be better,” Giannis added, answering a question about his fellow his fellow European’s MVP cases over the years. “Is he an MVP-caliber player? I think, no doubt he’s been up there. He’s definitely up there this year.”
Addressing whether he expected this reconfigured roster to win immediately after losing several rotation players, Antetokounmpo emphasized that building takes time. “I’m just a basketball player. I just came here to compete,” he stated.
“Do I think we have the pieces? Yeah. Do I think we got a lot of things to figure out? We have a lot,” he continued. “I know what the Miami Heat culture is about, I know what the players in this locker room are about, I know what I’m about. And I know that once we get on the right track, we can make some noise.”
His side continues their trip against the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday and the Golden State Warriors on Thursday.
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